On Monday, the billionaire businessman told his supporters that he was "honored" to come in second with 24 percent of the vote, sandwiched between Cruz's 28 percent and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's 23 percent.

"We finished second, and I want to tell you something...I'm just honored. I'm really honored," Trump told a crowd of supporters Monday. "I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all of the incredible candidates including Mike Huckabee, who's become a really good friend of mine. Congratulations to everybody."

The comments seemed to be a departure from previous sentiments Trump has shared on the issue of winning.

One tweet from the reality television star -- a quote from American golfing pro Walter Hagen -- declared this in 2013: